The ‘easy’ task of translating for children. The translator’s responsibility and the pedagogical nature of translated children’s literature

Translated children’s literature has only recently found scholars that investigated the relationship between translators and young readers, translations as cultural and social products of specific historical periods, the pedagogical nature of translation addressing a young audience, the strategies adopted to make literary works travel among cultures. Translation, much as literature itself, is never performed in isolation: the translator is a human being that grew up within a specific culture, who occupies a privileged position when translating works written for a young public because s/he is at the same time an ideal reader and the writer of the target text (Lathey, 2010; O’Sullivan, 2005; Shavit, 1986; Klingberg, 1986). The apparently easy task of translation is invested with responsibility for the translator who needs to keep the original author and the receiving audience (adults and children) in mind (Nord, 1991). But if we consider children’s literature as the possibility for young readers to create their own image of the world and reflect on their identity, translation can also foster the potential of a dialogue among translators and readers through the book. The aim of this paper is to review academic studies in the field of translated children’s literature, focussing on the open dialogue between translators and young readers. This invisible thread can suggest new research areas in children’s literature that can bring this discipline at the centre of academic debate around the pedagogical nature of translation in the growth of passionate and curious readers.